Pondering Preaching that Shares God's Heart

88 Questions Because Delivery Makes a Difference – III

Let’s conclude the list of questions to ponder about effective delivery:

14. Are your word choices appropriate for subject and audience? Is there an appropriate combination of dignity and authenticity? Do you sound like an academic? Do you sound like a stereotypical preacher (whichever stereotype comes to mind)? Are your words understandable, condescending, flippant, crass, attention-seeking, natural, coherent?

15. Do you actually make sense when you speak? Are your sentences fully there? Do you rely too much on people to get what you mean, or can you consistently say what you mean? Do you lose volume or change pace at the end of your sentences? Do you garble words, or skip them entirely? Do you rely on awkward filler terms like, well, you know, so, umm, like those?

16. Is what you wear appropriate for your listeners or distracting? Do you fit with the culture of your church? What message does your attire give off? Are listeners thinking about your excessive formality, your unkempt appearance, your distracting clothing choices?

17. Do you have any idiosyncratic quirks that should be eliminated? It could be in your voice, vocabulary, expression, gesture or movement, but if people have heard you a couple of times, could they name something distracting about your delivery?

18. Is the combination of everything we’ve seen already coming across as genuine? Do listeners meet the same you when they talk to you afterwards? Does your spouse or child recognize the person preaching in the pulpit?

19. How goes your prayer about delivery? Do you pray out of love for self and your reputation? Do you pray with a heartfelt concern for your listeners? Do you pray for your fame, or God’s? Do you pray about delivery at all?

20. What is your strategy for developing as a public speaker? Do you seek feedback from helpful people? Do you give them permission to be honest about delivery issues with you? How often do you listen to yourself preach? When do you plan to get videotaped and see yourself? Do you have one or two things that you are consciously working on and praying about at the moment?